Golf

Choi walks away with easy victory

With an eagle on the first hole, he distances himself from the pack.

By BOB HARIG
Published October 30, 2006

PALM HARBOR - K.J. Choi's golf has often been a solitary pursuit. Unlike the LPGA Tour, where a slew of Koreans dominate the scene, Choi has done it alone, becoming the first and only player from his country to win on the PGA Tour.

There are the cultural and language differences, the problems finding food.

But Choi is slowly but surely gaining confidence, enough so that he came to the Chrysler Championship without an interpreter. Although he still worked in visits to his favorite Korean restaurant on Hillsborough Avenue, Choi took in some American cuisine, too.

He was hardly lonely atop the leaderboard Sunday, but a 20-foot eagle putt at the first hole helped Choi break away from a pack of pursuers, and he cruised to a four-shot victory over Paul Goydos and Brett Wetterich.

"I'm very happy," Choi, 36, said. "This is the second time with the Chrysler Championship. I'm very impressed. I'm so happy (to get) No. 4 on the PGA Tour and victory at Innisbrook again."

Choi shot 4-under-par 67 on the Copperhead course to earn $954,000 from the $5.3-million purse and move to 26th on the tour money list, gaining a spot in this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Choi, who won by seven in 2002 when the tournament was called the Tampa Bay Classic, completed the 72-hole tournament at 271, 13 under par, the only player to reach double digits under par. He began the final round with a one-shot advantage over Ernie Els, Paul Goydos and Brian Gay, but only Goydos managed to stay within three on the back nine.

Jonathan Byrd (68) and Joe Durant (68) tied for fourth, five shots back, with Els (72), Jesper Parnevik (66) and Rod Pampling (65) tied for sixth.

Goydos' finish was a mini- victory. He started last week 160th on the money list but vaulted to 97th after earning $486,400. Only the top 125 money winners are exempt next season, and since this was the last full-field event of the year, Goydos was facing a return to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament without at least a fourth-place finish.

"Considering how I played all year, obviously this is a pretty good week," Goydos, 42, said.

It was a bittersweet week for Els, who appeared poised to win his first tournament of 2006 but stumbled on the front nine. He missed a 3-foot birdie putt at the first hole then double bogeyed the sixth. For a time, he put his spot in the Tour Championship in danger but made it into the field with clutch pars on the last two holes.

Wetterich, who posted his first win this year at the Byron Nelson Championship, applied the most pressure. He got within two of Choi with birdie at 15, then narrowly missed another at 17. On 18, he ran his 25-footer for birdie past the hole and three-putted for bogey.

"I definitely knew I needed a birdie to have any kind of chance," Wetterich said. "I had to get to 11 (under). You're not expecting guys to make a bunch of bogeys coming in. I definitely knew I had to make a birdie."

It turned out not to matter. Choi didn't make bogey after the fifth hole and added birdies at the seventh, 10th and 18th.

Not bad for a guy who grew up on the small island of Wando off the coast of South Korea, where there were no golf courses, only a small driving range.

Practicing alone obviously served him well.

Bob Harig can be reached at (727) 893-8806 or harig@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 30, 2006, 10:11:24]